Completely Conspicuous

Part 3 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey as we wrap up the second round of a March Madness-style tournament featuring our favorite rock artists.

Show notes:

• Round 2 forced some difficult choices
• The Smiths vs. Spoon
• Led Zeppelin vs. Prince
• James Brown vs. Queens of the Stone Age
• Rush vs. Allman Brothers Band
• Rolling Stones vs. Beastie Boys
• The Cure vs. The Afghan Whigs
• The Tragically Hip vs. The Clash
• The Police vs. Mark Lanegan
• Stevie Wonder vs. U2
• Sonic Youth vs. The Replacements
• The Who vs. Beck
• Talking Heads vs. Dinosaur Jr.
• Tom Petty vs. Pixies
• Neil Young vs. Steely Dan
• Van Halen vs. Beatles
• Pearl Jam vs. David Bowie
• Next: The final two rounds

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey as we wrap up the first round of a March Madness-style tournament featuring our favorite rock artists.

Show notes:

• Finishing up the rest of round 1
• Stevie Wonder vs. the Pretenders
• Talking Heads vs. U2
• St. Vincent vs. Sonic Youth
• Elvis Costello vs. the Replacements
• R.E.M. vs. the Who
• Beck vs. Dire Straits
• Jimi Hendrix vs. Jason Isbell
• Dinosaur Jr. vs. Foo Fighters
• Drive-By Truckers vs. Tom Petty
• Pixies vs. Fleetwood Mac
• Neil Young vs. Sleater-Kinney
• Steely Dan vs. Husker Du
• Van Halen vs. Blondie
• White Stripes vs. the Beatles
• J. Geils Band vs. Pearl Jam
• Nirvana vs. David Bowie
• Coming soon: Round 2, with more tough decisions

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey as we talk our way through a March Madness-style tournament of our favorite rock artists.

Show notes:

• We left out artists that we both didn't like: Grateful Dead, Black Sabbath, Radiohead, Joni Mitchell, Phish, Iron Maiden
• Also had to leave off a number of artists just for space considerations: Ramones, AC/DC, Feelies, Breeders, Camper Van Beethoven, etc.
• Some tough matchups in round 1 with randomized seeding
• The Smiths vs. PJ Harvey
• Spoon vs. Courtney Barnett
• Led Zeppelin vs. Bob Dylan
• The Cure vs. Prince
• Elton John vs. James Brown
• Pavement vs. Queens of the Stone Age
• Buffalo Tom vs. Rush
• Allman Brothers Band vs. Soundgarden
• The Kinks vs. The Rolling Stones
• Alice in Chains vs. Beastie Boys
• Bob Marley vs. The Cure
• Joe Jackson vs. The Afghan Whigs
• The Tragically Hip vs. Velvet Underground
• The Clash vs. Iggy Pop
• Stevie Ray Vaughan vs. The Police
• Sloan vs. Mark Lanegan
• To be continued with the rest of Round 1

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about bad songs from good artists.

Show notes:

• Songs we hate by artists we love
• Phil's #6: U2 makes a misstep
• Bono's talking tough
• Jay's #6: A #1 hit from Cheap Trick featuring outside songwriters
• The power ballad became huge for hard rock bands
• Phil's #5: AC/DC hits it big after losing their singer
• Jay's #5: When the biggest band tries to get weird
• Phil's #4: When GNR decided to cover Dylan
• They had lots of bad covers
• Jay's #4: When Aerosmith hit #1 with a soundtrack ballad
• Late-period Aerosmith is tough to take
• Phil's #3: The Smiths get preachy about animal rights
• Let's hear it for Bovine University
• Morrissey with ham-fisted lyrics about vegetarianism
• Jay's #3: R.E.M. had a couple of stinkers
• A version of the song ended up on Sesame Street
• Phil's #2: Punk rock upstarts go acoustic
• Green Day ended up becoming very mainstream
• Jay's #2: Bowie and Jagger with a very '80s abomination of a cover
• Video premiered during Live Aid
• Phil's #1: A definitive low for the Police at their most successful time
• Andy Summers wrote some bad songs every so often
• Jay's #1: Genesis with an all-timer of an offensive song
• The video alone is brutal
• Blame it on Mike Rutherford

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about bad songs from good artists.

Show notes:

• Songs we hate by artists we love
• Jay: Radiohead's "Fake Plastic Trees" is so whiny it turned me off the band for a few years
• Songs you hate vs. songs you're sick of hearing
• Phil: Nirvana had some dumb songs
• Phil's dishonorable mentions: Songs from Bowie and Jagger, Beck, XTC, Pink Floyd, Dire Straits, the Cars, Bob Seger
• Phil bashes the Brits
• Jay's dishonorable mentions: Songs by Soundgarden, Van Hagar, Rush, U2, Lou Reed
• Sammy Hagar's lyrics are...something
• Phil's #10: One of the Stones' bigger hits
• Jay's #10: Zeppelin goes honky tonk with meh results
• Phil's #9: Frat boy antics from the Beastie Boys
• Jay's #9: Andy Summers let his freak flag fly in the Police
• Phil's #8: The Dead goes disco with some rough lyrics
• The late '70s saw lots of rock acts try disco
• Jay's #8: Macca had some missteps, including his first teamup with MJ
• Phil's #7: The Beatles stumbled with an avant garde instrumental
• Maybe it was the drugs
• Jay's #7: Dee Dee Ramone tries rapping with hilariously bad results
• To be continued

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about our favorite concerts.

Show notes:

• Our top 10 concerts in no particular order
• Phil: Banged up and seeing his first Dead show in Foxborough in 1989
• The show is popular with Dead fans
• Jay: Caught Mike Watt backed by the Foo Fighters in their first Boston appearance in '95
• Phil: 12 days after that Dead show, saw the Who at the same venue
• A 3-hour show for the 20th anniversary of Tommy
• Jay: The one area appearance by Them Crooked Vultures in '09
• Supergroup with Josh Homme, Dave Grohl, John Paul Jones
• Phil: McCartney at Sullivan Stadium in 1990
• The tour book phenomenon
• Jay: Two shows in one night--The Amps followed by Mighty Mighty Bosstones
• Phil: U2 show on St. Patrick's Day '92 in Boston, Achtung Baby tour
• "Put it in H"
• Jay: Also a U2 show; September 1987 at the Boston Garden
• Phil: Dylan at Endicott College in October 1992
• Tickets purchased at a local jewelry store
• Dylan almost didn't play because a heater wasn't working on stage
• Jay: Electric performance from Nick Cave's band Grinderman at House of Blues
• Phil: Pearl Jam at the Orpheum in April 1994
• A few days after Cobain's death
• Jay: Front row at the Orpheum for Sugar, November 1994
• Bob Mould's last tour with Sugar
• Phil: Neil Young at the Wang Center in 2018 with Jay
• Neil was solo, telling stories between songs
• Gotta see some of these older artists while they're around
• Jay: Pearl Jam in April '92 at tiny club Axis
• Just before PJ blew up
• Phil: Dead & Co. at Fenway in summer '23
• $60 cheese pizza
• Jay: Last month seeing Sloan in Toronto with my daughter
• Played their first album front to back
• Only concert I've ever seen in Toronto
• Phil: Phish playing third show in three nights at Mansfield
• Jay: Ty Segall at the late lamented Great Scott in 2014
• So loud the floor was shaking
• Jay: No issues with seeing shows by myself
• Phil: Goose at MGM Fenway last year
• Played lots of covers, including the odd 36-minute jam
• Jay: First time seeing the Tragically Hip at the Paradise in April '91
• About 25 people there, but the band killed it
• Saw the band many times after that

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about our favorite concerts.

Show notes:

• Cold weather running tips
• What makes a great concert?
• Small shows vs. stadiums
• Hard to pare down the list
• Limited to one show per artist
• Good idea for a sequel involving a time machine
• Phil leaned toward larger shows
• Didn't include: R.E.M., the Cure, Sleater-Kinney, Drive-By Truckers, Tedeschi Trucks Band
• Jay: Prefer the intimacy of club shows
• We were at the same shows before we knew each other
• Phil: First concert was Van Halen in 1986
• Setlist.fm is a great resource
• MTV's Saturday Night concerts
• Jay's first show was a festival show in Kingston, NH with Cheap Trick, Ratt, Twisted Sister and Lita Ford in 1984
• Jay: Not a fan of festival shows anymore
• Adventures in seeing Rush
• Jay: Didn't see R.E.M. when they played my college
• Other favorites: PJ Harvey, Hot Snakes, Lollapalooza '92, Afghan Whigs, Soundgarden, Mudhoney, Drive-By Truckers, Alice in Chains/Screaming Trees, Peter Gabriel, White Stripes, Hold Steady, Mission of Burma, Gord Downie
• To be continued

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling about our favorite music of 2024.

Show notes:

• Our top 10 albums of the year
• Shout out to Rock P's top 20 out of 10 countdown
• JB's #10: Triple album tribute album for Jesse Malin, an underrated songwriter
• JK's #10: J Mascis incorporates hot guitar solos into a mostly acoustic album
• JB's #9: Hot collection of bangers from Cloud Nothings
• JK's #9: Farewell set from Toronto noise rockers METZ
• JK's #8: Angry breakup album from Fake Fruit
• Coming up on the 5th birthday of Parcheesi Redux radio, SITG hit 11 this fall
• JB's #7: Retro '60s sounds from Sharp Pins
• JK's #7: Philly indie rockers return with in-your-face collection
• JB's #6: More great SF indie bubblegum pop from Lunchbox
• JK's #6: Power pop scorchers courtesy of Daniel Romano's Outfit
• Reminiscing about ER and One Tree Hill
• JB's #5: Peel Dream Magazine delivers peaceful indie pop
• JK's #5: Dublin indie rock act Fontaines D.C. with commercial breakthrough
• JB's #4: Dog Day with economical set of bangers
• JK's #4: Slacker alt-country with hott lead guitar by MJ Lenderman
• JB's #3: Another Slumberland slacker indie pop success with Neutrals
• JK's #3: Indie supergroup the Hard Quartet with Malkmus and Matt Sweeney
• JB's #2: The rare Johnny Foreigner album that isn't #1, but it's still pretty great
• JK's #2 and JB's #8: Triumphant return from the Cure after 16 years
• JB's #1: Chime School with the peak summer hang soundtrack
• JK's #1: A November release from Kim Deal is a terrific reflection on loss
• First solo album after 37 years in the music biz
• Looking forward to 2025 releases from Hallelujah the Hills, maybe more Johnny Foreigner, Horsegirl, Mogwai

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling about our favorite music of 2024.

Show notes:

• The 16th annual year in review
• First one was in 2009
• Cybertrucks are dumb
• Self-driving cars are also dumb
• Taylor Swift just ended a monster tour
• Music is a dead-end business for most
• Spotify sucks
• Country music is huge
• Breitling: There are some good underground country artists
• A good year for Tracy Chapman
• Social media landscape is shifting
• Lots of big music deaths: Quincy Jones, Kris Kristofferson, Steve Albini, Paul Di'Anno, Greg Kihn, Karl Wallinger
• Getting out to some rock shows: Hallelujah the Hills, Nuggets tour, Gang of Four, Hoodoo Gurus, Sloan in Toronto
• Breitling's honorable mentions: The TV show The Bear, Bug Club's song "Quality Pints," Fontaines D.C.'s "Favourite," Tsunami box set, Spectres, Kal Marks
• Kumar's honorable mentions: Dale Crover, Buffalo Tom, Ekko Astral, Jack White, Ducks Ltd., Mary Timony, Los Campesinos
• To be continued

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about our favorite instrumentals.

Show notes:

• Phil's #8: A jazz-funk classic out of Scotland?
• Jay's #8: Powerful surf rock from the Pixies
• Phil's #7: The Commodores with an early funk workout
• Jay's #7: Dick Dale hit that was revived decades later in Pulp Fiction
• Song originated in the 1920s
• Phil's #6: Instrumental from Phish that evolved in the live setting
• Jay's #6: A sweeping song from Bowie's Berlin period
• Bowie switched genres and sounds with ease
• Phil's #5 and Jay's #3: A revolutionary moment for guitar heroics
• Edward Van Halen changed the game for rock guitar and hard rock
• Jay's #5: Hendrix blowing minds in the early morning hours at Woodstock
• Turning the national anthem into a protest song
• Phil's #4: Music mogul with a horn-driven dance song
• Sampled by Notorious B.I.G.
• Another horn-based song by Chuck Mangione went to #1 in '79
• Jay's #4: Iconic full-band instrumental off Zep II
• Killer riff combined with Bonham's monstrous drumming
• Phil's #3: Elton John with the first part of a two-part suite
• Metallica did a great cover earlier this year
• Phil's #2: Tedeschi-Trunks Band with extended instrumental from experimental project
• Jay's #2: Concise, virtuosic classic from Rush's best album
• Phil's #1: Iconic song released by the Allman Brothers Band after the death of their ace guitarist
• Dickey Betts played song with two fingers as a tribute to Django Reinhardt
• Jay's #1 and Phil's #10: Epic, emotional guitar piece by Eddie Hazel of Funkadelic
• J Mascis did a great cover on Mike Watt's 1995 solo album

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.